1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to heat sinks and more particularly to modular heat sinks for housings for electronic equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional housings for outside plant (OSP) telecommunication equipment, such as an ADTRAN TA1148 OSP housing, are typically designed for a specific product and generally are product limited. When a service provider, such as a telecommunications company, requires significant changes to an OSP product or a manufacturer introduces a new product, it is often necessary to provide a new OSP housing. When the new housing requires geometric (i.e., size, material thickness, etc.) and other changes, such changes usually add cost and undesirable manufacturing delay. Hence a new housing, though required, has undesirable consequences. As such, there is a need for an improved housing that is readily available to meet new specifications and that reduces cost and delays. Most OSP housings have conventional heat transfer structures for keeping temperatures of electrical components on printed circuit boards within a desirable range of values.
Conventional OSP housings typically comprise a cast housing with thermal conductors fabricated as integral parts of the housing during the casting process. Such a housing is typically a single use part that is designed to enclose a specific product. The housing is generally expensive to manufacture (because of tooling and other costs). Conventional housings have delivery times in the 10-15 week range. The typical conventional housing is a single use housing making it expensive. Changes to the housing may result in undesirable delay. Thus, there is a need for an improved housing system.